The Edgar Thomson Steel Works is a steel mill in Braddock, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. A steel mill at the turn of the century in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania A steel mill (British English and Australian English steelworks) is an industrial plant for the manufacture of steel. ... Braddock is a borough located in the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, ten miles (16 km) above the mouth of the Monongahela river. ...

Ovens and mill building of the Edgar Thomson works, as of the mid-1990s

History

The mill occupies the historic site of Braddock's Field, on the banks of the Monongahela River east of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. On July 5, 1755, in the Battle of the Monongahela, French and Indian forces from Fort Duquesne ambushed and defeated the expedition of British General Edward Braddock, who himself was mortally wounded. Braddocks Field is a historic battlefield on the banks of the Monongahela River, near the junction of Turtle Creek, east of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. ... The Monongahela River at Morgantown, West Virginia in 1999 The Monongahela River (Affectionately referred to as The Mon) is a river on the Allegheny Plateau in West Virginia and Pennsylvania in the United States. ... Nickname: Steel City, Iron City, City of Champions, City of Bridges, City of Colleges, P-Burgh, The Burgh Motto: Benigno Numine Location in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania Coordinates: Country United States State Pennsylvania County Allegheny County Founded 1758 Mayor Luke Ravenstahl (D) Area    - City 151. ... Combatants France Britain Commanders Liénard de Beaujeu † Jean-Daniel Dumas Charles de Langlade Edward Braddock † Strength 105 regulars 147 militia 600 natives 1,459 regulars and militia Casualties 23 killed 20 wounded 456 killed 521 wounded The Braddock expedition (also called Braddocks campaign) was a failed British attempt... An artist’s rendering of Fort Duquesne Fort Duquesne was a fort established by the French in 1754, at the junction of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers in what is now downtown Pittsburgh in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. ... General Edward Braddock General Edward Braddock (1695? – July 13, 1755) was a British soldier and commander-in-chief for North America during the actions at the start of the French and Indian War. ...

Braddock's Field also was the site of a rally of rebellious militiamen and farmers during the Whiskey Rebellion, prior to a massive march on the city of Pittsburgh on August 1, 1794.^[1] The Whiskey Rebellion, lesser known as the Whiskey Insurrection, was a popular uprising that had its beginnings in 1791 and culminated in an insurrection in 1794 in the locality of Washington, Pennsylvania, in the Monongahela Valley. ... City nickname: The Steel City Location in the state of Pennsylvania Founded 1758 Mayor Tom Murphy (Dem) Area  - Total  - Water 151. ...

The site is on the banks of the Monongahela, which provides cost-effective, riverine transportation of coke, iron and finished steel products.

The Edgar Thomson Steel Works was designed and built because of the Bessemer process, the first inexpensive industrial process for the mass production of steel. In the process, air blowing through the molten iron removed impurities via oxidation. This took place in the Bessemer converter, a large ovoid steel container lined with clay or dolomite.^[2] Bessemer converter, schematic diagram The Bessemer process was the first inexpensive industrial process for the mass-production of steel from molten pig iron. ...

In the summer of 1872, while in Europe, Andrew Carnegie learned about the Bessemer process. He returned to Pittsburgh with plans to build his own Bessemer plant. The main partners and stockholders were: Andrew Carnegie, William Coleman, Andrew Kloman, Henry Phipps, David McCandless Wm. P. Shinn, John Scott, David A. Stewart, and Thomas Carnegie. The firm was known as Carnegie, McCandless, and Company.^[3] The plant was named after J. Edgar Thomson, who was the president of the Pennsylvania Railroad. Year 1872 (MDCCCLXXII) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian Calendar (or a leap year starting on Wednesday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... Andrew Carnegie (November 25, 1835 – August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-American businessman, a major and widely respected philanthropist, and the founder of the Carnegie Steel Company which later became U.S. Steel. ... John Edgar Thomson (February 10, 1808-May 27, 1874) was an American civil engineer, railroad executive and industrialist. ... 1893 map The Pennsylvania Railroad (AAR reporting mark PRR) was an American railroad that was founded in 1846 and merged in 1968 into Penn Central Transportation. ...

On January 1, 1873, ground work broke on the Edgar Thomson Steel Works. It has been estimated that the plant was built for about $1.2 million. The mill was built by Alexander Holley, who also found a manager to run the mill, Capt. William Jones, a Civil War veteran. On August 22, 1875, the Edgar Thomson Steel Works' hulking Bessemer converter produced its first heat of liquid steel, destined to become 2,000 steel rails for the Pennsylvania Railroad. The mill was capable of producing 225 tons of steel rails per day.^[4] William Jones is a common name, especially in Wales, and there have been several well-known individuals of this name, including: // Academics and authors William Jones (historian) (1860–1932) Sir William Jones (mathematician) (~1675–1749), father of Sir William Jones (philologist) Sir William Jones (philologist) (1746–1794) son of Sir...

In 1892, the workers of the plant took part in the one of the most serious strikes in U.S. history. The Homestead Strike arose when Henry Clay Frick, an associate and partner of Carnegie’s, took over while Carnegie traveled to Scotland. Frick attempted to cut the wages of the steel workers.^[5] The steelworkers at the Duquesne and Edgar Thomson Works joined the strike and shut their mills down in sympathy.^[6] Frick took extreme measures. He brought in thousands of strikebreakers. When he sent in 300 Pinkerton guards to protect the strikebreakers, a riot broke out, resulting in 10 deaths and thousands of injuries. To prevent any further bloodshed, the Governor, Robert Pattison, sent two brigades to stop the fighting. Carnegie, McCandless and Company recommenced operations with non-union immigrant workers.^[7] The Homestead Strike was a labor lockout and strike which began on June 30, 1892, with a battle between the strikers and private security agents erupting on July 6, 1892. ... Henry Clay Frick Henry Clay Frick (December 19, 1849 – December 2, 1919) was an American industrialist and art patron. ... The term Pinkerton, when used by itself, can refer to: Pinkerton National Detective Agency, a well known detective agency founded in 1850 by Allan Pinkerton Lieutenant Pinkerton, a US naval officer who marries the title character in the opera Madama Butterfly Pinkerton, a 1996 album by Weezer Allan Pinkerton (1819... Categories: People stubs | 1850 births | 1904 deaths | Governors of Pennsylvania ...

In 1901, Carnegie sold the Carnegie Steel Company, including the Edgar Thomson Works, to J. P. Morgan, Elbert H. Gary and other investors, as part of the foundation of U.S. Steel. Carnegie-Illinois Steel blast furnaces in Etna, Pennsylvania (1941) Andrew Carnegie constructed a profitable steel mill at Braddock, Pennsylvania in the mid-1870s. ... John Pierpont Morgan (April 17, 1837 – March 31, 1913) was an American financier, banker, philanthropist, and art collector who dominated corporate finance and industrial consolidation during his time. ... Elbert Henry Gary (1846- ) was an American lawyer and corporation official, born at Wheaton, Ill. ... The United States Steel Corporation NYSE: X is an integrated steel producer with major production operations in the United States and Central Europe. ...

Current operations

Today, two blast furnaces continue in operation at the Edgar Thomson Steel Works, which remains part of U.S. Steel. In 2005, the mill produced 2.8 million tons of steel, equal to 28% of U.S. Steel’s production. The mill employs about 900 persons, some of whom belong to the second or third generations of their families to work in the mill.^[8] The United States Steel Corporation NYSE: X is an integrated steel producer with major production operations in the United States and Central Europe. ...

Among improvements to its physical plant is a $250 million continuous caster, which converts liquid steel directly into slabs, installed in 1992.

In April 1995, the mill was designated a historic landmark by ASM International, a society that honors works of structural engineering. Other structures honored by the society are the Statue of Liberty and the Eiffel Tower. ASM International, formerly known as the American Society for Metals, is a professional organization for materials scientists and engineers working with metals. ... For other freedom monuments, see Monument of Liberty. ... Eiffel tower on Bastille Day The Eiffel Tower (French: , ) is an iron tower built on the Champ de Mars beside the River Seine in Paris, France. ...

References

1. ^ "The Planting of Civilization in Western Pennsylvania, Buck, Solon J.
2. ^ Wikipedia contributors, "Bessemer process," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, [1] (accessed September 25, 2006)
3. ^ Hugh P. Meese, "Edgar Thomson Steel Works," [2] (accessed September 25, 2006)
4. ^ “Len Boselovic: "Carnegie Plant That Made Pittsburgh the Steel City Marks 125th Anniversary," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, August 22, 2000
5. ^ Wikipedia contributors, "Homestead Strike," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, [3] (accessed September 25, 2006)
6. ^ James D. Rose, Duquesne and the Rise of Steel Unionism (University of Illinois, 2001), 9-37
7. ^ Wikipedia contributors, "Andrew Carnegie," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, [4] (accessed September 25, 2006)
8. ^ "Carnegie Plant That Made Pittsburgh the Steel City Marks 125th Anniversary’," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, August 22, 2000